Sewing-machine



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' DOUGLAS.

SEWING MACHINE.

No. 516,190.' Patented Malz-13, 1894.

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No. 516,190. Patented Mar. 13, 1894.

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J DOUGLAS SEWING MACHINE.

No. 516,190. Patented Mar. 13, 1894.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN DOUGLAS, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGN OR TO THE SINGER MANUFACTURING COMPANY OF NEW JERSEY.

SEWING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 516,190, dated March 13, 1894. Application ledMarch'S, 1892. Serial No. 423,636. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN DOUGLAS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Overseaming Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention has for its object to provide an automatic tacking device whereby an overseaming sewing machine is adapted to sew several overseaming stitches on top of each other, after which the vibrating or horizontal movements of the needle will be suspended with the needle at the center of the path of its horizontal reciprocation, in which position, Without horizontal movement, several stitcheswill be made to fasten the th reads, and when this has been done the machine will be automatically stopped. To this end I provide an overseaming sewing machine with an attachment consisting of a stopping mechanism and an automatically operated lever which will transfer the pin, from which horizontal movements are imparted to the needle bar frame and needle-bar, to a neutral point on its operating lever, and thereby arrest the horizontal or overseamin g movements of the needle. The needle will then make a few fastening stitches, and when these have been completed the same device which controls the movements of the pin-transferring lever will also serve to operate a stop mechanism, to arrest the movements of the stitchforming mechanism.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a side elevation of an ordinary Singer overseaming sewing machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the same, and Fig. 3 is a detail view to show the gearing connection between the driving shaft and the cam by which horizontal or overseaming movements are imparted to the needle bar and needle. Fig. 4 is a View of the lever H in one piece. f

A denotes the work plate of the machine and B the bracket arm thereof, and in the upper portion of the latter is mounted the main driving shaft C, which serves to impart vertical movement to the needle-bar in a wellknown manner, the said needle-bar being carried by a swinging frame D connected by a pitman E with the lever F pivoted to the arm B and operated from a cam groove g in the disk G connected by gearing to the driving shaft C in such a manner that it will rotate once while the driving shaft performs two revolutions, so that the needle-bar will alternately descend in different vertical planes, as is common with this class of machines.

Pivoted to the vertical portion of the bracket arm B is a bell-crank or angular lever H the forward end of which is forked to embrace a pin f forming the connection between the rear end of the pitman E and the lever F, the said pin forming part of a slide entering a groove in the said lever. Geared to the driving shaft C is a vertical shaft C provided at its lower end with a disk c connected by a pitman c2 with a vertical rocking shaft or sleeve I which serves to operate the shuttle. On the shaft C', just above the disk o', is mounted a cam c3 which is embraced by a yoke j on a vibrating lever J carrying a spring-pressed pawlj which engages a ratchet wheel L journaled on a pin or screw a, entering the work plate. A spring-pressed detent pawl m serves to prevent back movement of the said ratchet wheel and the latter is provided with a projection or pin m.

Pivoted to the under side of the work plate adjacent to the ratchet wheel L, is a springpressed catch N provided with a small hook n and with an arm n the toe portion 'n2 of which extends into the path of the pin m carried by the ratchet wheel L. The lower end of the vertical arm of the bell-crank lever I-I extends downward through a slot a in the work plate in such position that when the said arm is pressed forward it will lift the hook n of the catch N so that it can pass the said hook; and when it has thus passed the hook the latter will be forced by the spring n.3 into such position as to retain the lower arm of the said lever H in its vertical position, as shown in full lines in Fig. l, but when the toe portion n2 of the said catch is engaged by the pin m von the ratchet wheel L the said hook n will be lifted from the lever H permitting the spring H', attached to the vertical arm of the said lever and to some portion of the frame of the machine, to pull the forward arm to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1; thereby lowering the pin f to bring it coincident with the f ulcrum of the lever F and thus suspend the horizontal movements of the needle barand needle. The fulcrum of the lever F is at the bottom thereof, as denoted by the dotted circle in Fig. 1. The movement of the lever H by the spring H is, or may be, controlled or regulated by an adjustable stop screw b4 tapped in a pin or screw b5 on the bracket arm B.

O denotes a lever pivoted at o to the under side of the bed plate A and having at its forward end a finger o which is also in the path of movement of the pin m' carried by the ratchet wheel L, a spring n2 serving to hold the said finger in the path of the said pin, and also to hold the outer or rear end of the said lever O against a projection p4 at the lower end of a clutch lever P pivoted to a bracket b2 secured to the vertical portion of the bracket arm B. The iiy wheel Q is rigidly secured to the driving shaft C in the usual manner, while thedriving pulley Q is loosely mounted upon the said shaft but is adapted to be pressed into frictional contact with the outer face of the fly wheel by means of a projection p carried by the clutch lever P. But when the said projection p is released from the hub of the driving pulley, in a manner which will be explained later on,a spring b presses a brake arm P (formed integral with the clutch lever P) against the inner face of the ily wheel, thereby arresting the movements of the driving shaft.

'lhe clutch-lever P is provided with a horizontally extending arm P2 provided at its forward end with an incline p2 which is arranged to be engaged by a roller stud h3 carried by the lever H in such a manner that when the said lever is moved from the position shown in dotted lines to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 the said roller stud will ride up the said incline and will thus cause the projectionp on the clutch lever P to engage the hub of the driving pulley Q and force the said pulley into f rictional contact with the fly wheel Q. Thus when the said lever H is operated by its handle h to move the pin f from its inoperative position, denoted by dotted lines in Fig. 1, to its operative position, the driving pulley will be forced into frictional contact with the iiy wheel and the machine will be set in operation. The spring catch N holds the said lever H in this position to make the pin f operative until the said spring catch has been released by the pin m engaging the toe portion n2 of the said catch. When the lower end of the clutch lever' P is moved outward, by reason of the action of the roller stud h3 on the incline p2 of the arm P72 of the clutch lever, the outer end of the lever O is forced against the projection at the lower end of the clutch lever so that the said clutch lever will remain in its operative position after the lever H shall have been released from its catch until the finger o of the said lever O is engaged by the pin m on the ratchet wheel L to thereby release the outer end of the said lever O from the projection p4 of the clutch lever and permit the spring b to move the upper arm of said clutch lever outward to release the driving pulley from the fly wheel and to force the brake P into contact with the inner face of the said fly wheel, to arrest the movement of the driving shaft.

The operation of my invention is as follows: When the lower arm of the lever H is pressed forward from the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 to the position shown in full lines in said figure the pin f will be lifted by the forward end of the said lever H to its operative position, and the clutch will be operated as above described to throw the driving shaft into operation. At each rotation of the driving shaft C, and thus at each descent of the needle bar, the pawl j carried by the lever J will move the ratchet Wheel L forward to the extent of one tooth; and when a number of overseaming stitches have been made and the said ratchet wheel has been moved to bring the pin m into contact with the toen2 of the catch N the said catch will be movedso that the lower arm of the lever H will be released from the hook frt ofthe said catch, and the said lever will be moved to lthe position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 by the spring H thereby lowering the pin f to bring it coincident with the fulcrum of thelever F, and thus the horizontal movements of the needle bar will be arrested with the needle in the middle of its horizontal throw. The needle now makes three or four stitches in its central position to fasten the ends of the threads in the center of the bar or tack which has been made by the overseaming stitches dur ing the time the pin m has been traveling from the toe n2 of the catch N to the finger 0 of the lever O, and when the said pin en` gages the said linger o the lever O will be operated to release its outer end from the projection p4 at the lower end of the clutch lever P. The spring b will now move the clutch lever to release the projection p at the upper end of said lever from the hub of the driving pulley, thereby releasing the latter from its frictional contact with the y wheel; while at the same moment the brake P will be pressed by the spring Z) into contact with the inner face of the said fly wheel, thus arresting the movements of the driving shaft and stopping the machine. These operations may be repeated as rapidly as the work, which is handled by the operator, can be placed beneath the needle for making the successive bars or tacks The forward arm of the lever H is shown in Fig. 1 as being made in two sections h4 and h5, the latter being pivoted to the former at h5 and secured in any desired position of adjustment by means of a set` screw 79.7 which passes through a slot hs. This construction is merely for the purpose of permitting the IOO slotted portion h5 to be adjusted relative to the rigid portion of the lever to vary the position of the pin jfof the lever F and thus regulate the horizontal throw of the needle bar, but the lever H may be made of one single piece of metal if desired, as shown in Fig. 4. y

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a sewing machine, the combination with a needle bar and mechanism forl moving the same laterally or horizontally, of a lever acting to suspend the horizontal movements of the said needle bar, a spring catch serving to hold said lever in one position, and a rotating device to release said spring catch, and thus permit the horizontal movements of the needle bar to be automatically arrested.

2. In a sewing machine, the combination with a needle bar and mechanism for moving the same laterally or horizontally, of a lever acting to suspend the horizontal movements of the said needle bar, a spring catch serving to hold said lever in one position, a rotating device to release said spring catch, and thus permit the horizontal movements of the needle bar to be automatically arrested Without stopping the machine, and a clutch mechanism which is also released by said rotating device after the cessation of the'horizontal movements of the needle bar, and a brake device which serves to stop the machine, and which is operated simultaneously with the release of the clutch mechanism.

3. In a sewing machine, the combination With a needle bar and needle and a movable needle bar frame, of a vibratinglever connected to the needle bar frame and serving to impart horizontal movements thereto, a pin adjustable in said lever and forming part of the connection of said lever with said needle bar frame, an adjusting lever by which l the I said pin may be moved nearer to or farther Y from the fulcrum of its operating lever, a

spring catch for holding the said adjusting lever in its operative position, and an intermittingly rotating wheel having a pin or projection adapted to engage the said spring catch and thus release the same from the said adjusting lever to permit the needle-bar operating-pin to be moved to an inoperative position in said lever.

4. The combination with the'main shaft C, lthe vertical shaft C provided with a cam, a lever operated by said cam, a springpressed pawl carried by said lever, a ratchet wheel operated by said pawl, a spring catch adapted to be engaged by a pin or projection carried by said ratchet wheel, a horizontally moving needle bar and its operating mechanism comprising the lever F, a pin f, and the pin adj usting lever H to be held in its operative position by said spring catch and to be released by said pin or projection on said ratchet wheel.

5. The combination With a needle bar and mechanism for operating the same, of the lever H, the spring H', the springcatch N, the

intermittingly rotating wheel L provided with a pin or projection to engage aportion of the said catch, the driving shaft, the driving pulley having a clutch connection therewith, the clutch lever P and the lever O serving to hold said clutch lever in its operative position and adapted to be moved by the said pin or projection on the wheel L to release the said clutch lever.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN DOUGLAS.

Witnesses:

PHILIP DIEHL, E. H. BENNETT, J r. 

